FAUNAL EXPLOITATION AND AGRICULTURAL TRANSITIONS IN THE SOUTH AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL LIMIT

NEME, G.; A. GIL

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF OSTEOARCHAEOLOGY

JOHN WILEY & SONS, LTD,

Lugar: WEST SUSSEX-UK; Año: 2008 vol. 18 p. 293 - 306

1047-482X

Southern Mendoza Province, Argentina constitutes the southernmost limit of Andean agriculture in South America. Archaeofaunal assemblages from sites in this region show a pattern of changing taxonomic diversity, concomitant with the first appearance of domesticated plants. This pattern is characterized by an increase in prey diversity before the appearance of the first cultigens and a decrease in diversity after their arrival. Furthermore, the animal taxa exploited when domesticated plants enter the diet indicate a focus on big game. The pattern observed in southern Mendoza is in accord with ethnographic and archaeological models generated by faunal research worldwide.